Actuality March 3, 2008

Barclays British bank was not hiding the intentions to enter the Russian market.

Last year Barclays expressed its intention to acquire a sm all Russian credit institution, which had already got a bank license.

The plan has come into life.

Barclays declared about the purchase of Moscow Expobank, one of the largest banks within the top hundred. It cost $745 million.

One of the bank coowners Andrey Vdovin reported to Interfax Information Agency, that negotiations with Barclays lasted half-year.

"The British bank was foremost interested in retail business and map projects developed by Expobank", he said, explaining why the choice was fixed upon Expobank. According to him, Expobank stockholders agreed to sell the bank, because received good price offer.

"It is business", Vdovin marked, not eliminating the sale of other assets at the receipt of good offer.

According to Vdovin, he and his business partner Kiril Yakubovsky, can remain in the board of direc

tors of the bank for a year, and maybe more. "We need to provide the qualitative transfer of bank business to the new stockholders", he marked.

Barclays expects to close the transaction in summer, 2008 after getting the approval of regulators.

After completion of takeover, Expobank will become division part of Barclays Global Retail & Commercial Banking Emerging Markets managed by Ahmed Khizer Khan.

British Barclays Bank PLC estimated the Russian bank quite expensive – with the value 4 to the book value (price to book value, PBV). "Average estimation on the Russian key transactions – 3,2 PBV, i.e. it is much more expensive, the 25% bonus", says Olga Veselova, the analyst of Troika Dialog.

According to her, the willingness to p ay such high price is obviously rel ated to that remained not so many attractive assets in top-100 that have a desire to be for sale.

"And the bank is attractive in itself; quite good branch network for the 77th bank of Russia. Barclays' interest to local development is important", Veselova marks.